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Goodreads description--He was taking the long road. She was taking the road to nowhere. It just so happened that they led to the same place…

Five months ago, Camryn and Andrew, both dealing with personal hardships, met on a Greyhound bus. They fell in love and proved that when two people are meant to be together, fate will find a way to make it happen.

Now, in the highly anticipated sequel to THE EDGE OF NEVER, Camryn and Andrew are pursuing their love for music and living life to the fullest as they always swore to do. But when tragedy befalls them, their relationship is put to the ultimate test. As Camryn tries to numb her pain, Andrew makes a bold decision: To get their life back on track, they’ll set out on another cross-country road trip. Together they find excitement, passion, adventure—and challenges they never could have anticipated.

Sexy. Daring. Dangerous. THE EDGE OF ALWAYS takes you on a ride you won’t forget .

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

I couldn't choose between either beginnings or endings, so I did a top ten of both! HEHE! For the beginnings, these are books that either hooked me early or had major moments pretty close to the beginning. For the endings, these are the ones where something major happened or I was just left dying to start the next book.

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Goodreads description--The dark secret Kayden has kept hidden for years is out. Worse, he's facing charges for battery. The only way he stands a chance against the charges is if Callie speaks up, something he'll never ask her to do.

Callie knows Kayden is going back to his dark place and desperately wants to save him. But saving him means admitting her secrets aloud. Callie and Kayden are stronger than they think, especially when they're together. Together they move forward, face their demons, and finally start to heal from their traumatic pasts.

Even though both The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden and The Redemption of Callie and Kayden are told from dual POVs and cover the struggles of both characters, The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden focuses more on Callie's struggles and The Redemption of Callie and Kayden focuses more on Kayden's. While I've gotten sucked into these characters' lives and struggles, their paths are dark and heavy with the hauntings of their pasts.

One of the biggest struggles that I had with The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden (my review here) was their unhealthy coping mechanisms. Callie's self-induced vomiting, purging, and Kayden's cutting, self-mutilation. On the one hand, these subjects aren't things that I read about every day and they added depth to the story that made these characters and their struggles real. At the same time, I was yelling at them both to find better ways of coping, to talk to someone--anyone. As the title suggests, The Redemption of Callie and Kayden is a story about healing and moving forward--which they both very much need to do.

As with The Forever of Ella and Micha, both Callie and Kayden eventually end up talking to counselors/therapists, and I love that Jessica Sorensen included not only this fact, but also that they're both improving due to this. So many characters in literature see counselors, but they don't allow the process to work. I like seeing positive results being portrayed from these experiences--especially after how dark The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden was. At the end of The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden, I felt like the opportunity should have been taken to address that Callie and Kayden's coping mechanisms are not healthy and that if any reader finds themselves struggling with these issues to please ask for help, and while that particular message wasn't spelled out at the end of either books, I did feel like that was the overall message of The Redemption of Callie and Kayden.

Callie herself really shows a lot of strength and growth in The Redemption of Callie and Kayden from where she was in the previous book. The potential loss of Kayden really kicked her into gear. She realized how important moving forward and healing really is for the both of them, and she's bound and determined to see to it that they both get the help they need. I was proud of her for stepping up.

Kayden does dance around the "I'm not good enough for you/you deserve better" attitude of relationship-sacrificing that bugs me so much lately. BUT, luckily, we didn't have to suffer through chapters upon chapters of this attitude or of Kayden running away. Kayden's bravery kicks in and I found myself being proud of him as well.

While one theme of this story was about how others can help us to be stronger, I liked that Jessica Sorensen chose to have the characters conquer some of their fears alone. I don't think having each other there for support in these situations would have made the characters or the story "less", but it does show how far the characters have come and how much they've grown. Some things just have to be done alone.

I finished The Redemption of Callie and Kayden in about 24 hours. It was a fast read and was heavy while not being overly emotional for me. That's not to say that I wasn't attached--I was. I just didn't cry or anything like that considering the heavy topics. The Redemption of Callie and Kayden gets 4 stars from me. Have you read The Redemption of Callie and Kayden? What did you think? Let me know!

Sunday, July 28, 2013

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ The Caffeinated Book Reviewer ~this meme was inspired in part by ~ In My Mailbox~
It's a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

This was a super long week for me work wise. Slow.... The weekend finally rolled around, and Husband and I watched Beautfiul Creatures between Friday night and Saturday morning. I fell asleep about halfway through like I'm known to do, and Husband dutifully stopped the movie so we could pick it back up where I fell asleep. Such a sweetie. As far as the movie goes, I didn't love it. I thought overall it was a bit rushed and I HATED the faked Southern accents. Granted we Southern folk probably sound worse to non-Southern folk than we sound to ourselves, but sheesh those accents were bad. All I all, I just think Beautiful Creatures would have made a better TV show than movie. But I'm glad I finally got to see it.

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Goodreads description--The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy, # 1)

By: Jennifer A Nielsen

Published: April 1st 2012 by Scholastic

342 pages

Genre: YA, Fantasy

Source: Borrowed from my local library, and then free audio download from Auidobook Sync

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Goodreads description--THE FALSE PRINCE is the thrilling first book in a brand-new trilogy filled with danger and deceit and hidden identities that will have readers rushing breathlessly to the end.

In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point -- he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.

As Sage moves from a rundown orphanage to Conner's sumptuous palace, layer upon layer of treachery and deceit unfold, until finally, a truth is revealed that, in the end, may very well prove more dangerous than all of the lies taken together.

An extraordinary adventure filled with danger and action, lies and deadly truths that will have readers clinging to the edge of their seats.

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Goodreads description--Two boys: the same age, almost the same face. The one difference: Tom Canty is a child of the London slums; Edward Tudor is heir to the throne. How insubstantial this difference is becomes clear when a chance encounter leads to an exchange of clothing and of roles...

*Note: The above links to Amazon, The Book Depository, and Booksamillion.com are affiliate links. Affiliate links support giveaways for Somewhere Only We Know readers.

Goodreads description--The dark secret Kayden has kept hidden for years is out. Worse, he's facing charges for battery. The only way he stands a chance against the charges is if Callie speaks up, something he'll never ask her to do.

Callie knows Kayden is going back to his dark place and desperately wants to save him. But saving him means admitting her secrets aloud. Callie and Kayden are stronger than they think, especially when they're together. Together they move forward, face their demons, and finally start to heal from their traumatic pasts.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

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Goodreads description--He had held a secret that destroyed her world.

Everything she had known was no longer true.

Blaire couldn’t stop loving him but she knew she could never forgive him.
Now, she was back home and learning to live again. Moving on with life… until something happened to send her world spinning once again.
What do you do when the one person you can never trust again is the one that you need to trust so desperately?

You lie, hide, avoid, and pray that your sins never find you out.

So I didn't review book 1 on my blog, though I did review it on Goodreads here. Abbi Glines pushes my limits on graphic writing, but since I have a hard time not finishing what I start, I really wanted to see what happened to Blaire. Bless her bones. Her twin sister died in a car accident several years ago. Her father left shortly after that. Her mother was then diagnosed with cancer. Blaire cared for her mother until she finally passed away. All of those events lead up to book 1, Fallen Too Far. At the end of Fallen Too Far, Blaire finds out that she has a half-sister that she never knew about. And there are some things that she finds out about her mother and father that force her to flee back to her home town leaving the only boy she ever fell in love with behind. Poor Blaire feels more alone than ever. On top of all of that, Blaire moves into her ex-boyfriend's grandmother's house temporarily until she can get back on her feet.

I felt sorry for Blaire. Hers felt like one of those stories where you can't imagine how much more can happen to a person. Yet she continued to stand strong, to take care of herself, to do whatever she has to do in order to survive. Pretty much the only friend Blaire has begs her to come back to Florida and live with her which Blaire does, effectively throwing herself back in the line of Rush who happens to still be head over heels in love with her. Aside from all of that, there's a line that's tying Blaire and Rush together no matter what happens anyway.

Rush is a bit on the possessive side (that's an understatement), and while this is definitely unhealthy, I find myself being extremely attracted to that possessiveness. My husband is extremely laid back, and while I love that about him, he pretty much never gets jealous--not that he has a reason to. Just saying that the passion that Rush feels over Blaire is a bit attractive--while being a bit scary at the same time. I also found myself getting really annoyed with Rush over his stupid decisions. He's usually completely aware of the fact that he's being a jerk in the moment, but refuses to make the choice not to be, despite knowing that he's hurting the person he claims to love the most. SMH.

I liked that Abbi Glines tackled a subject that I don't read about frequently and is very much a consequence of the life these characters were living. And I wasn't expecting this to be part of the story line for this book, though looking back, the foreshadowing was majorly thick in Fallen Too Far.

All in all, I'd give Never Too Far 3.5 stars. I heard that the series continues with a companion novel focusing on Nan, and I wasn't thrilled to say the least, but throughout Never Too Far, I found myself wondering if a certain event was going to go down in Nan's life so I'm intrigued to find out if I'm right--though I don't see anything on Goodreads about said companion novel. Can't wait to get my hands on Forever Too Far as I've already heard tale that it's really good. Have you read Never Too Far? What did you think? Let me know!

Goodreads description--Jessica Sweet thought going away to college would finally make her free of her parents’ constant judgments and insistence she play chastity club role model for their church events, but if anything, the freedom has made her realize she can’t go home and be a hypocrite anymore. Tired of dodging their questions, she stays at school over the summer and lands in an unexpected crash pad: Riley Mann’s house.

Sarcastic, cocky, and full of opinions, Riley is also sexy personified with tattoos and biceps earned from working as a roofer all day. Not the right guy for her even if Jessica was looking for a relationship, which she is definitely not. But Jessica knows that Riley hides the burden of having to raise his younger brothers behind that grin and as she helps him get his house in order for a custody hearing, they begin to fall hard for each other, and she is forced to question what she’s hiding herself.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Top 10 Tuesday is a post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and this week's topic is Top Ten Words That Make Me Put Down a Book.

1) Bullying - You guys...I'm so sick of this topic. Sorry...but I am.2) Cheating/Affair - I abhor this behavior so much. I can't condone it nor do I want to read about it.3) Gay/Lesbian/Trans/Bi - I'm straight. I'm a Christian. I like to read straight love stories.4) Time Travel - Yeah...I'm not a fan. Skip it.5) Alternate dimensions/dual worlds - Also not a fan.6) Science Nerds - I pretty much hate when people try to explain away the world and life and love using science. 7) Feminism - I'm not a feminist and I don't really like when women are overly feminist so yeah...fem lit gets passed by.8) Manga - So I've never actually read any of these...but it's not really my style.9) New Orleans - I'm not going to explain this one. Haha...die from curiosity.10) Explicit/Erotica - Yeah...I have a graphic line and some of the YA and New Adult books I've read really push those lines. Explicit and erotica are big no-nos for me.

What are the ten words that immediately make you put down a book? Let me know!

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About Me

I wear my hair up alot - grew up a bit of a tom boy. With one brother and one sister, I played football with the boys as much as barbie dolls with the girls. I love romance and I married my best friend. God has blessed me. And I want to return the favor.

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